


The Railway kids.

by faliceplease



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-15
Updated: 2016-10-15
Packaged: 2018-08-22 12:33:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8286013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/faliceplease/pseuds/faliceplease
Summary: The homeless kids litter the streets, doing whatever they can to pass the time, to get by in the cold London nights. What happens when the fortunate mixes with the unfortunate? A story about teenagers from different worlds, learning what it means to be human, knowing what it means to care.





	

Three sets of beady eyes, six sets of dirty fingers pressed against the glass of the Lady Di dance studio. Those beady eyes were focused on the figures of four well filled out teenage girls, dancing their hearts out, working up a sweat. The youngest of the boys, let out a tiny little giggle, holding onto his chest as he couldn’t hold it in any longer. The eldest, rolling his eyes, knocked the youngen on the back of the noggin. “Harry, you ruin everythin’ don’t ya?” he said in a tone of annoyance. The little boy frowned, not liking what was said. 

“I do not” He whined, folding his arms across his chest. At the age of thirteen, Harry was still quite young to be hanging around the likes of sixteen year old Zayn and fifteen year old Niall. But that was the way of the streets, you either looked after yourself, or looked after your mates. The three of them had been living out here for years, they’d formed what Harry would describe as a family. They were the only brothers he’d ever had. 

Niall pulled a cigarette from the back pocket of his trousers, he stepped away from the window, suddenly losing interest in the girls they’d been spying on. “You’re too—“ He started, before Zayn cut him off.

“Hard on him, yeah, yeah. I’ve heard it all before.” He snorted, handing Niall over his lighter. He wrapped an arm around Harry, patting him affectionately on the left shoulder. “We should probably scram, those birds have a mean old manager, I seen him yesterday” He tattled, Harry looked up at him from the side. 

“Are they famous or something?” He asked innocently, ignoring the growl of his little stomach. He’d not had a meal for nearly two days, offering the scrap of bread he’d managed to muster up to his friend Lou, she’d refused it at first, until Harry told her he would climb onto the track if she didn’t at least take a bite. It was only polite after all. 

“Apparently so” Niall said with a chuckle, pointing up ahead to the newsstand, there they were upon the cover of one of the biggest magazines of the country. Harry’s eyes were wide in amazement as he rushed over to get a closer look. 

“They’re good lookers.” He beamed in amazement, the two older boys laughed, Zayn was nodding his head. He agreed with that, if that was the only thing they’d agree on, then he wasn’t ashamed to admit it. 

“Little Mix” Niall read aloud, nodding his head. “What kind of whacko name is that then?” He questioned, eyeing each girl off with his pervy eye. “Nice tits they have anyways.” He said with a smirk, Zayn rolled his eyes yet again, now that was something he was not admitting to agree with that was for certain. 

“We’d better get out of here, they aren’t too happy about street folk hanging about. Haven’t got anything to help feed their family…we’re not exactly welcome” Zayn said sadly, grabbing Harry by the shoulders and pushing him down the footpath. 

The chill in the air sent shivers down Zayn’s neck, he hated to think what it would be like under the railway. It always had an eerie chill about it, but it was home so he could hardly complain. He tried focusing on his footwork, one step at a time, but taking his mind off the cold was never easy. In fact it only ever seemed to make him all the much colder. 

The cold air never seemed to bother Harry however, in fact Zayn couldn’t think of a single thing that really bothered that kid. Unless you counted that cute foot stomp he accumulated every time you brought attention to how young he was. He didn’t especially like that. 

Niall was leading the way as the three of them strayed from the footpath, walking down one of the back alleys, it was never particularly crowded in the late afternoons, not that it mattered. They were the street kids after all. It was them who people feared, and maybe Zayn found that ridiculous, but he wasn’t going to raise his hand to change that. It was probably the only thing keeping him from being beaten to a pulp by some local douche bags, looking for a scuffle. 

Niall never seemed to pay attention to anybody else, letting go of a tree branch, which missed Harry’s head because of the size of the little munchkin, and rewarding Zayn with a hit to the mooch. “Watch it you twat”: He complained, steadying himself for the climb down the grassy hill. They were lucky though, it hadn’t rained in days, they weren’t going to get muddy. Zayn hated being muddy. 

“Toodalou!” Harry called out, spotting the minx blonde who was braiding her sister’s hair underneath the concrete tunnel that they called home. He took off like a rocket, ignoring Niall who was ranting about the volume of Harry’s squeak. 

Zayn grabbed the cigarette off of Niall, taking a puff. “Where’d you get this anyhow?” He asked him with a raised eyebrow. 

“Probably the same place you got your leathers from.” Niall said icily, they both locked eye contact for a moment, neither wanting to be the first to speak. Zayn didn’t know if he should be offended that Niall had assumed he had stolen the jacket, or scared that he had been found out. 

Instead of breaking the silence, Zayn turned on his heal, following Harry’s direction towards the tunnel. He was greeted by friendly, dirty faces. The crew, as Niall liked to call everyone. It wasn’t much but it was all he had. It was home, or it was home enough. 

^^

“Where hav’ you been?” Lou asked her little friend Harry, Harry had been like a brother to her ever since she’d arrived just under a year ago. Her parents had kicked her out upon finding out that she’d fallen pregnant at the age of sixteen. For the months of her pregnancy, Harry had been the one who kept her head straight, he was the one who convinced everyone to share their rations with her for the sake of the baby. 

“We were watching some girls dancing, it was quite swell.” He told her, she smiled, patting the spot beside of her, motioning for him to sit down, she loved the cheeriness that Harry always seemed to have, he bumped her knee as he sat down, “Sorry” He whispered, causing her to shake her head. 

“S’fine.” She responded, her fingers made their way back to the girl who sat in between her legs. She combed them through her sister’s hair, sighing. This was not what she had planned for her life. She had hopes and dreams. She was going to open her own salon, and style hair for all the movie stars, but here she was, using her fingers to comb through her sisters dirty, knotted hair, as she sat down on the cold concrete that she called her home. Its where she slept, it’s where she spent most of her time. Sitting there wishing her life was different. Wishing she had never left home. 

“You know I brought you something” Harry told her, causing her to turn around, she watched as he produced a crumpled up magazine. Not unlike the ones she used to get in the mail back at home. Harry handed it to her, it was from one of the salons, across the way from the bakery he often bargained with the owners for a scrap of bread. She let out a happy sigh. “Aw H” She cooed, patting his knee. “You’re always thinking of me” and it was true. He was, always looking out for her. 

“Nah, just thought you might like it. That’s all.” He said with a lazy side smirk, he was delighted, secretly. He was always happy when he pleased people. Always. Sam wriggled out of Lou’s grasp, tucking her hair into her hoodie and standing to her feet. 

“Wher’re you goin?” Lou asked her, she didn’t like it when her sister took off. She did it almost every evening, it worried her sick. She was the only family she had left, and she knew very well how dangerous the streets were.

“just goin for a widdle, don’t get ya knickers in a twist right?” She giggled, sliding her hands into her pockets, walking out of the tunnel swiftly. 

“You worry too much” Harry told her, she rolled her eyes, nudging him with her shoulder gently. 

“That’s what happens when you’ve lost ev’rythin’ tha ev’r meant anythin’ to ya.” She told him, thumbing the sleeve of Harry’s ratty old hoodie. Harry understood what she meant, he of all people knew the pain that Lou was going through, despite his age, he did notice his surroundings more than he let on. 

“You haven’t lost me.” He whispered sweetly, leaning his forehead against her shoulder, her touch against his wrists were like a comfort as they clung to each other for warmth, it was the body heat from each other that kept them both alive through most nights, the harsh winters breath was never pleasant, the pair of them both not too far from memories of being rugged up in their own beds at home, locked away from the ice cold breeze that threatened the country with frost bite, they had been safe, but now every night was an adventure, wondering whether you’d make it through the night was all a part of the experience.


End file.
